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Chicken Katsu Bento チキンカツ弁当

The children are finally back to school after the winter break. One of the first thing that came to my mind was I need to start stocking up my freezer with bento menu items, like these Chicken Katsu.

It would be much easier for me if my son is willing to eat sandwiches everyday, but he’s used to my cooking and prefers Japanese food for his lunch (although I occasionally take a break and make sandwiches).

Sure it takes a little bit more time to make Japanese style bento in the morning, but most of food packed in the lunch box I make were already cooked in advance. All I need to do in the morning is to reheat and pack other ingredients (Why do I reheat? Read here.). It’s pretty simple, so let’s get started!

For the small bento box my son has, I cut chicken into small pieces so that I can make mini Chicken Katsu. After I deep fry and let it cool down completely, I pack these mini ones into small individual airtight containers like these (You can purchase at your local Daiso store).

Or wrap individual portion with plastic wrap and put them in a Ziploc bag. You can keep these Chicken Katsu in the freezer for 3 weeks at most. When you want to pack Chicken Katsu for bento during those 3 weeks, you take out the individual portion from the freezer and reheat in the morning.

If you know that you will be using Chicken Katsu for bento the following day, you can keep it in the refrigerator. The direction to make Chicken Katsu Bento is below.

If you are using a thermal bento box like Thermos, you do not need to cool down before closing lunch box.

This lunch is for my 6-year-old son.

* Cook broccoli florets in microwave: Put 1-2 broccoli florets in a small microwave-safe bowl/container. Fill with water and cover with plastic wrap. Microwave for a minute or so until it's a little bit soft (or you can blanch it as well). Drain well and let it cool.

Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.

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Happy 2013, Nami! Hope you’d a wild X’mas & New Year celebration. Just got back from Tokyo recently & I was there when the earthquake happened. Your Tori Katsu makes me wanna go back to Tokyo soon. Hahaha! Check out some of my Tokyo posts; did a lot of shopping & fine dining…….

I really admire the effort you put in to your son’s lunchbox. It shows how much you put them ahead of everything else in your life and that’s as it should be. If I come to visit, I’ll look for my bento lunchbox. 🙂

My daughter is giving me trouble with her lunches lately… she hates sandwiches, most meats etc…

I am pulling my hair out getting her to eat something while in school. I bet if I sent her to school with this she would love it. She says she does not like meat, but she loves breaded chicken. This is a perfect bento for her. I am going to try it. 🙂

What a colorful bento box! I love your chicken katsu but I would never consider freezing it. In fact, I usually don’t freeze anything that’s been fried. I’m a sucker for the crunchy noise making bite of fried foods and once it’s been frozen, that’s just not possible. Even when I put it under the broiler, I get “a little” of the crunch back, but not like straight from the pot. I guess I haven’t tried using the 400F method. I should try that. Another beautiful bento!

Hi MJ! Fried food is the best when it’s right after being fried, but using a toaster oven helps to make it crunchier (Even though it’s same 400F, I’m not sure how different it can be from a regular oven). Freezing keeps freshness and I’d say it’s a pretty amazing result considering it wasn’t being just fried. Japanese bento is meant to be eaten at room temperature and there is some fried food that is still enjoyed at room temperature including this chicken katsu. I’ve been here (in the US) for long enough that I also understand it’s strange to eat fried food at room temperature too… 😀

Once again, a fantastic bento. It’s so nice that your son so likes your food, and you’re so willing to make a little extra effort to pack a bento for him. You must be a happy family! Great post – thanks.

Those mini containers are super cute! I’m been on the look-out for small containers that are good for freezing. (Since in the long-run, I bet resusable containers are better than breaking out the Ziploc every time. Probably more eco-friendly too.)

Thanks for the bento post!! I guess the New Year’s festivities have finally come to an end~~

Yum Yum! I love bento boxes. And if it has Chicken Katsu prepared by Nami, even I am ready going to school again! Wow, this bento is full of tasty and healthy ingredients!! Your kids must be so lucky: they must be getting fancy bento boxes prepared by their mom every day, isn’t it?

My kids on summer vacation and they will go back to school on March. Since that, I have both of them at home looking for something to do. Well, on weekends we go to the beach, which is great for the family.

Of all the bentos this one looks like the easiest, am I right? If I ever have kids and they go to school, I ll want to make bentos for them sometime. I hope by the time there will be more Japanese ingredient choice here around.

Hi Nami! Your children must have the best lunches in the school;-) I love the nutritional aspects of this meal as well as the colorful fruits and veggies along with the tasty chicken and rice, wish this was my lunch;-)

You’re a great mum, and you must know that most probably other kids tell their mums how cool your son’s breakfast/lunch box is. I’d not think of this kind of a breakfast. I remember I used to eat rice for breakfast each morning while I was traveling in Asia. I must try your chicken katsu bento!

Nami, you always manage to make me hungry no matter what time of day it is or the fact that I’ve just finished eating…. look at this bento! It’s absolutely gorgeous and the chicken looks incredibly succulent. Love all the colours and diversity of flavours.

I don’t blame your son: I would prefer a real food to instead of sandwiches every day for lunch! Each time I come here and see a bento, I know that school year is not over yet… I need a vacation! 🙂 (from driving my son to school)

Your kids have it to good, you know they will never move out if you feed them this good, lol. I was thinking of you today, I saw a bento lunch box in t.j. maxx and wanted to get it just so I could pack myself a lunch. He he. Love Chicken Katsu, guess I’m a big kid. Hope you had a great weekend. -Gina-

Sigh….I wish my kids would prefer me to pack them bentos instead of asking for sandwiches for lunch all the time! My son used to love my bentos but since the summer (he switched to a new class), he’s been asking for sandwiches since and so does my daughter! I wonder if it was influenced by his new classmates. hm…but your chicken katsu bento certainly looks great. I’ll make it for my hubby instead! hahahaha….I know he would appreciate it more. 😛

Really, Nami, how did we end up with something as dull as a sandwich when there are such wonderful things as Bento out there with a myriad of fillings such as this Chicken Katsu (my favourite Wagamama dish). Yuuuuuum!

Chicken katsu is one of Mr. N’s favorites. I just make sandwiches for lunch, but I have a feeling Mr. N would rather have your lunches every day. 😉 They are just so pretty too Nami. You know how much I love them!

Hi Nami! This bento looks really yummy but looks so easy to make. I haven’t made bento for my son since he went to primary school. But I still make picnic bento sometimes. Hope to see your picnic bento picture here very soon. 🙂 Have a nice day.

Nami, so happy to see that you are continuing your series on bento boxes again. And I am happy to report that I finally procured some bento boxes for the kids – I found a specialty store and bought some wonderful bento boxes for the kids. Now I have to get started on preparing some of their lunches following your recipes and todays recipe seems perfect to get started (as a beginner in Japanese cooking, I think with your wonderful instructions and photos I can manage but I will let you know how it all turned out!).

I would make the same choice as your son! I can understand why he prefers your cooking. What a beautiful lunch! I like that you can make the chicken katsu ahead and freeze. My boys would love to find this in their lunches – I may surprise them with it.

I love that your son enjoys and prefers Japanese cooking over western foods. When I was younger, my mom would also pack my lunches with Chinese foods. I’d much rather home cooking than any boring sandwich.

Hi Nami, this recipes looks delicious! I have a question about packing rice in the lunch box though. I know that rice can grow bacteria quickly but would it be okay to eat it; if I cook it the night before, place it in the fridge once it’s cool, place it in a container with an ice pack in the morning, and then eat it for lunch around 12? Thanks!

Hi Anna! That’s what I do for my children’s lunch box when I don’t have time to prepare in the morning (I microwave frozen rice – http://www.justonecookbook.com/how_to/how-to-freeze-rice/). The bacteria grow when it’s warm environment. As long as it’s kept cool, it’s okay. In Japan, we usually put Umeboshi (pickled plum) in the middle of rice – it’s edible but works as anti-bacterial. Hope this helps…. 🙂